of weasels in pink tutus
by layafel
Summary: What happens when an unexpected event takes place in Konoha during the chunin exams that unearths secrects long hidden, spinning their world as we know it out of control? weasels, tutus, 72 hour tests,confessions,hidden plots and utter chaos, thats what.
1. in the beginning

"WHAT DID YOU SAY??????"

On a bad day, Sarutobi might be rude to you if you talked to him while he was annoyed. On a normal day, he was a soft-spoken and smiling hokage. If it was a really good day, everyone else was also infected with his infectious good humor. Apparently, today was a REAAAAAAAAAAAAAALY bad day…

"HOW COULD YOU HAVE LET THIS HAPPEN??? WHAT AM I GOING TO DO NOW??? YOU FOOL! YOU STUPID IGNORANT FOOL!"

Yup, reaffirmed the birds as the screaming voice of the third blew down all the birds nest's in the vicinity, today was obviously an extremely, EXTREMELY bad day.

But what, you ask, is it that the third hokage is being so very worked up about?

Well, let's look at what happened a few moments earlier…

The third was sitting and smoking his pipe. Today had been looking like a good day. The chunin exams were going to be held in konoha, he had finished his huge mountain of paperwork and there were no missions that needed his attention. And if that wasn't enough to make him happy, there was the fact that they had caught one of Orochimaru's followers and were currently interrogating him. Morrko Ibiki himself was interrogating the man. Of course, that was where things had all gone wrong.

An hour after the man was taken for interrogation, Sarutobi had finished all his work and was relaxing, simply choosing to smoke his pipe and stare at the passing clouds (yes he shares the same pastime with Shikamaru). However, five minutes into his pastime, he was rudely pulled out of his laze by a jonin banging his door open, running into his desk, and screaming rudely into his ear that there was an emergency. The poor unsuspecting fellow had gone on to scream in the third's ear about how the prisoner had escaped with maps of the death forest, all its traps and creatures, and morrino ibiki himself.

That was, the birds agreed, the reason why the normally nice hokage's mood had done a complete 180 and said man was now screaming while spinning the poor jonin around in circles.

Someone really should have warned the hokage other than him, he thought. Next time, Asuma would have to deliver his own messages instead of making him do it, thought Kakashi as he flew through the window of the thirds office to land along with the fallen trees. Yes, it looked like there was going to be a lot of chaos from now on…


	2. the meeting

I don't own anything. Happy? Not even the reference here. I got it from photobucket. Kind off. That and goeskaboom. Oh, yes. This story is dedicated to goeskaboom, who inspired me with the plot. Be nice please, it's my first story.

Sasuke was scared.

No, scratch that.

Sasuke was scared _shitless_.

Why was the great Uchiha Sasuke so scared?

Well that would be due to the weasel of course.

What weasel you ask?

Let us pause for a minute and analyze Sasuke's past for a second. At age 7, all his family was killed by his 13 year super powerful better-than-you, holier-than-thou complex, (and with a 7 foot stick up his AHEM certain place) older brother that Sasuke idolized.

Needless to say, Sasuke has been very very obsessed with killing his older brother since then.

So then, before Sasuke was scared shitless, he had been walking away from the training grounds after practice. It had been an easy practice, consisting of his repeatedly kicking Naruto's poor body all over the place. So Sasuke was happy. While he was walking home, he suddenly heard a rustling in the bushes. Immediately he took a defensive stance, activated his sharingan and took out a kunai. The bushes started to rustle with greater intensity and Sasuke suddenly felt extremely nervous. However, the next minute a weasel ran out of the bush. Wait. It was a weasel in a pink tutu. With red eyes. All of a sudden, Sasuke remembered the one time his mother made both her sons go for ballet. The sight of Itachi in a tutu had given him chills for many days. It didn't matter that his brother had gotten the part of Cinderella in the play and was wearing a female tutu instead of a male one (at least the female one covered certain areas). It had still been a scaring experience. After remembering this horror, Sasuke forgot all his pride and dashed home squealing like a girl. The weasel, O horror of horrors, then decided to chase after him, causing the Uchiha to run as fast as he could to his house, lock all the doors and windows, and then hide with his blanket under the bed whimpering. And this was where he was now.

All he could think about was how very scared he was.

If only he knew what was to happen the next day at the chunin exams…

He would have stayed in his house for the rest of his life…


	3. the decision

We've been through this. I own nothing. Now make the lawyers go away.

The whole hokage tower was in an uproar. The chunin exams were less than an hour away and they couldn't find Ibiki.

"What am I going to do? What am I going to do? The chunin exams are in 50 minutes and we haven't found Ibiki yet!" said poor Sarutobi. The third hokage was so upset and frantic; he was literally running around in circles while all the jonin under his command were either out trying to find Ibiki, or placing bets as to when exactly he would stop. Finally, 9 minutes before the exam, Sarutobi banged headlong into a wall and fell down senseless.

"Ok, then. Let's see. Kurenai you had 10 minutes, so you're the winner. Cough it up, everyone."

With much groaning and moaning, everyone gave Kurenai her money.

"Hey you guys what are we going to do about him?" asked Asuma.

"We could throw water on his face," said Kakashi.

So then, after waking up a frazzled, worried, and extremely wet hokage, with only 5 minutes to spare, Anko said the magic words.

"Why don't we use _it _for the exams? It's an emergency after all…"

"Anko, you're a genius!"

"Duh…"

So Sarutobi sent all the jonin to go get _it_ so that the chunin exams could begin.

Meanwhile, all the rookie nine and team Gai had already met at the registration booth and were making their way to the classroom. After telling everyone there would be a delay due to the capture of Ibiki and the need to get a replacement, everyone was herded into the exam room and told the rules of the test.

Five minutes into the exam, the whole room was in an uproar because they were all extremely impatient. Everyone was wondering who would be giving the exam since Ibiki was gone. Everyone was either very laid back, because someone worse than Ibiki was not humanely possible, or tense because they wanted to get the exam over with.

Naruto would fall into neither category, because he didn't know how dangerous Ibiki was, and all he really cared about was getting out of here and eating ramen. So he decided to trouble Sasuke.

"Are they here yet?"

"No," said Sasuke.

"Are they here now?"

"No," said Sasuke, his eye twitching slightly. Everyone edged away as…

"Are they…"

Before Naruto could finish, however, Sasuke burned him to smithereens and then banged him into the door. However, before Naruto hit the door, it opened and Naruto fell on the exam proctor.

A very pissed exam proctor lifted Naruto off him as Sasuke suddenly was filled with great horror as the exam proctor came into view. All he could think about was how very, very bad the exams were going to be.

He had no idea how right he was. But if he had known what was going to happen to him in the span of the next few days, he would have run away as fast as he could in the opposite direction.

For standing in the doorway, was the exam proctor. And the exam proctor was none other than…

Thanks to goeskaboom for reviewing. You're the first reviewer of my first story! In effect, you are my first reviewer!

Yay!

Please review, constructive criticism and any plots, objects, phrases that you might want me to incorporate into the story are welcome. Thank you.


	4. and the exam proctor is

**All right then. Back to the story. Thanks to all my reviewers and to goeskaboom for my first keyword to incorporate in this chapter. If there is any word you would like me to incorporate in the story, or a phrase or storyline, please review and tell me and I will do my best to include it in the story.**

**I own only the plot, and the story around the keywords.**

Sasuke suddenly was filled with great horror as the exam proctor came into view. All he could think about was how very, very bad the exams were going to be.

He had no idea how right he was. But if he had known what was going to happen to him in the span of the next few days, he would have run away as fast as he could in the opposite direction.

For standing in the doorway, was the exam proctor. And the exam proctor was none other than…

Everyone stared. Naruto's jaw dropped. Sakura and all the other girls suddenly were filled with the flaming power of moe! (Ouran high school host club reference. Still not mine)

Sasuke yelled, thought better of it screamed like a girl and then used his fireball jutsu ( someone send me the name please) to try to get the (now very pissed) exam proctor away. Or whom he thought was the exam proctor. However the exam proctor dodged it, and the very unlucky little girl that was late for the exams and was consequentially right behind him was burned to a crisp. She was then taken by the force of the fire and propelled backwards until she hit the fallen down tree stack that had been felled by the hokage's wrath. There she found Kakashi sitting, who had woken up from his daze and

Was now reading his Icha Icha Tactics. After landing on him by the force of the fire( and burning him as well), the poor girl fainted. Kakashi looked at her, shrugged, and resumed reading. Though he could not help but fell that he was forgetting to do something important…

In the exam center: "Where's Kakashi hokage-sama? Didn't you send him to get the chocolate doughnuts? Before you shouted at him and threw him out the window?

"Wait, I thought that Itachi was an S-class criminal. Why is he our proctor?" asked a very confused Naruto.

"I'm not the proctor…", said Itachi, " I'm here only because they wanted my special skills for this exam."

"Then who's the proctor?" asked a very confused Sakura.

"And why are you here?" asked a still suspicious but for now willing to let his aniki live Sasuke.

" I had to escort him. I will also act as translator and will make sure that everything is controlled. That is my job,", said Itachi.

Then Itachi stepped aside to reveal Sasuke's worst nightmare…

THE FLUFFY WEASEL IN A PINK TUTU!!!!

Only today he was wearing an Akatsuki cloak and black sunglasses.

"FTW????", was the thought on everyone's mind.

"Wait, why is he wearing an Akatsuki cloak instead of the pink tutu?", asked Sasuke.

"Well, the day you ran into him was the day it was Deidara's turn to dress him up. He didn't like it and so ran away. We would never have found him if I hadn't heard your screaming and realizing what caused it, followed your voice till I came upon it sitting outside our house."

"And what made you realize that it was me and that I had run into this weasel?" asked a slightly worried Sasuke.

"Well I remembered the time that mom made us go for…" Itachi started but was then cut off as Sasuke put his hand on his brothers' mouth to muffle out the rest of his story. Yes, his brother remembered everything, but these people didn't know what had happened then and he was determined to keep his reputation as a cool person intact.

"… and then I was the lead person in the…. And I had to wear a… and then we came home after it and you saw me up close and were shocked, screamed like that and then ran to your room and stayed under the bed. Don't you remember? You avoided me for weeks afterwards…" continued Itachi.

"Yes I remember, but why is he wearing an Akatsuki cloak and glasses today?"

"Because today's my day to dress him, it makes him look like me and( Itachi took out his own set of glasses and put them on) IT MAKES BOTH OF US LOOK BADASS!!!"

On seeing Itachi with his glasses and cloak all the girls( and some boys) fainted out of pure ecstasy. But of course they did. After all, Sasuke may be a hot person, but Itachi is sex on legs (the last three words is a phrase that I read on another fanfic, it's not mine technically. Just FYI).

"Well then", said Itachi, " let's get started…."

Sasuke still had time to run away in the opposite direction as fast as he could. But he didn't. Instead, he closed the door after his brother and in doing so, sealed off the only escape exit and his last lifeline to the outside world. His fate was now sealed…

Don't forget to send in keywords or phrases you would like me to use.


	5. hunger pains

How many times do we have to go over this? I own nothing. As for the madness occurring in this plot, it was necessary to fit in the keyword. See if you can figure out what it is. Please review, especially if something is unclear to you or you would like to send in a keyword. Thank you.

"Well then", said Itachi, " let's get started…."

Sasuke still had time to run away in the opposite direction as fast as he could. But he didn't. Instead, he closed the door after his brother and in doing so, sealed off the only escape exit and his last lifeline to the outside world. His fate was now sealed…

The first thing Itachi did when he entered was to glare at the entire class after taking off his glasses. This was done to ensure that everyone understood that he was in charge and would use force if necessary to make sure everything went smoothly.

"Let's get some ground rules established. You don't eat. You don't sleep. You don't cheat. You don't attempt to cheat. You don't lie. You don't look up from your paper. You will not speak unless spoken to. If spoken to, you will be short and to the point. No staring. No drooling. No fangirl squeeling."

"But…"started Sakura.

"No interrupting. No chewing noises. No tapping. No…"continued Itachi as if nothing had happened. After the very long list of don't's was over and Itachi had finished telling them the rules….

"If any of those rules are broken, it will result in the person finding himself in extreme pain…"

After that, the class was the epitome of perfection. Even Naruto knew better than to test Itachi's patience. Sasuke he could handle, but Itachi… Naruto shuddered just thinking about it.

While the test was underway, the weasel suddenly started to feel hungry. It had been running from Deidara's clutches all the last day and part of this morning, so it hadn't had time to find any food. When this message was conveyed to him, Itachi asked one of the guards posted at the door to get a few eggs for the weasel. It was imperative, he added, that they be warmed under a chicken, because he knew the weasel wouldn't eat them any other way. Honestly, whose idea was it to make him so carnivorous? Oh, wait. That would be Zetsu.

And as the weasel started on the tenth question, the one where you chose to leave if you felt you couldn't handle it, the ninja sent to procure eggs returned with the eggs warm under the chicken, all in a straw lined basket. The weasel smacked his lips, eager to begin his feast. The chicken however, had other plans.

On seeing Sasuke's hair, the chicken fell in love at forst sight. However, it didn't realize that Sasuke was attached to what it considered to be a male chicken with its butt in the air. The chicken flapped its wings just as its basket was taken beside Sasuke's desk and attached itself on Sasuke's head. This caused Sasuke to panic and scream. Everyone looked up to see what had made the avenger scream like a girl, and Naruto took the opportunity to look at Hinata's answers and copy them down. The fangirls all squeeled on seeing Sasuke being assaulted by the chicken, and proceeded to get up from their seats to help Sasuke remove the chicken from his head. The weasel had just finished giving the tenth question when this happened and Itachi saw it as an interruption.

With so many of his rules being infracted one after the other, Itachi knew he had to something quick or he risked losing his I-am-a-badass-cool-don't mess with me-person status. So, since he could not tell if there was anyone who had complied with all of his rules, he simply decided that all of the students would feel his wrath.

"MANGEKYOU!"he yelled.

The next minute, the very unsuspecting students were all hurled into Itachi's alternate universe and forced to take their test for the next 72 hours. Both the students and the ninja guarding them who had been thrust into the alternate world as well were extremely scarred after that. Even Itachi was slightly drained after sending that many people into his alternate universe. The only one unaffected by all this was the weasel, who was now sitting inside the chicken basket that had been dropped on the table he was sitting at. He was covered in raw egg which he was licking from his fur. Unperturbed by the chaos around him or the fact that all of the students had fainted, he pronounced that they had all passed the exam and would proceed to the next round.

Just as he said so, Anko smashed into the window and was promptly mangekyou'd by Itachi; who hadn't yet realized that the exam was over and saw Anko as an interruption. The last thing the weasel saw as Anko fainted on him was the heaven seal given to her by Orichimaru on her neck. The weasel swore to follow her and inflict his revenge…

Besides, tomorrow was Tobi's turn to dress him. And Tobi was not a good boy, no matter what he said. In fact, the poor weasel actually preferred Deidara to Tobi.

As Sasuke lay on the floor twitching, his poor exhausted brain managed to process that he had passed and would have to go to the forest of death tomorrow for the next test. Why, he thought sadly, had he been cursed with his horrible hair? He envied his older brother's hair, for it was smooth, shiny and sleek, while his own locks looked like they had been run through a lawnmower. That, he concluded, was what got me into this mess. At least tomorrow I shall be away from Itachi and therefore it should be less hectic as today.

He could still have given up and gone home, but Sasuke was determined to become stronger than his older brother. There was nothing that his aniki couldn't handle. Right?


	6. forest of death

So then. So far, no one has guessed the keyword for chapter 5. I also, now have three keywords for six, seven, and eight. If you want to add a keyword to my list of keywords, feel free to review. In addition, if you want, you can request a particular keyword for a particular chapter. Or you can ask me to use more than one keyword per chapter.

On to the story. I own nothing.

Sasuke woke up bright and early that morning. It was time for the second exam. He was pumped and ready to take on whatever it was that weird girl was going to throw at them. Forest of death. Ha. He had lived for 7 years with Itachi. There was no way that anything could faze him. After all, living with Itachi was worse than anything that anyone could throw at him. And Itachi was considered the strongest ninja alive. If he could defeat everyone in this, he would be one-step closer to becoming stronger than his aniki.

_Bring it_, he thought as he got out of bed.

He really doesn't know when to quit, thought Itachi as he hopped of the branch he was sitting on. Unknown to Sasuke, Itachi took time of almost every two days to check up on his little brother. Despite his actions, he really cared for Sasuke. Though he had had to act like a cold-blooded murderer, he really did care. He had to kill of the family because of what he found they were going to do to Sasuke. They had felt that Itachi was their genius and they didn't need Sasuke. And since they were in financial need, they decided to give Sasuke to Oricimaru in return for money. Itachi couldn't let that happen. This was his little brother they were talking about. And so he killed all of them off. He was planning on coming home after Sasuke came home and feigning innocence. He hadn't expected Sasuke to walk in on him killing their parents. And so he had to make the child believe he had done it because he simply wanted to test his strength, that he was a horrible murderer who killed his own mother in cold blood. He acted like he let Sasuke live because he wanted someone to avenge him. In truth, he wanted Sasuke to be free from all the burdens the family put on him. He wanted him to flourish and become stronger. Itachi could see the potential in Sasuke. But he couldn't tell Sasuke that, nor could he help him gain that strength. All he could do was watch over him every morning. Sigh.

Itachi decided that he would keep an eye on his little brother during the exam. Knowing his brother, he would try to do something rash and end up hurting everyone. It was up to him to keep an eye on him. Both eyes, in fact, as often as he could spare them. So he followed an oblivious Sasuke to the training grounds famous for its use in the second exam, the forest of death.

Sasuke met up with his team as soon as he reached the exam site. Looking over the fence that separated them from the forest of death and hearing their task, he started to rethink his thought that this would be nothing compared to Itachi. Maybe on a slightly lesser difficulty level, but hard nonetheless. However, Sasuke couldn't openly admit he was troubled by the task. After all, he had to carry on the Uchiha reputation for being suave. Though it really wasn't his forte. It was more Itachi's style. But he still had to do it. So he brushed it off as if it was no big deal. Inside though, he was sweating buckets.

About a quarter of the way to the tower in the center of the forest of death, Sasuke started to feel very uneasy. He felt like someone or something was watching him. He was right, though he didn't know it. Itachi was on his tail, about 50 meters behind him, following him out of sight, but making sure his little brother was alright. However, the thing that was following him at that moment was not Itachi. It was something else. A small weasel, which was very pissed. It had been left alone in that room after that girl fainted on it. All he had seen though were three pinpricks in a circular pattern that it identified as the heaven seal. All it knew was that the person who fell on it had a heaven seal and was heavy. He had never actually seen their face. And it remembered Sasuke from yesterday when the chicken decided to jump on his head. His hair was what had caught the weasel's attention. It had reminded him of a chicken's butt, which reminded him of eggs, which reminded him he hadn't eaten for a while. This was what started the whole fiasco yesterday. And unfortunately for Sasuke, he was the approximately the same height as Anko. The squirrel watched Sasuke's group as they obtained both scrolls. Then he watched as this weird man came and Sasuke fought him. The man then did this weird jutsu and then was about to kill Sasuke when Itachi came and fought him off. Sasuke didn't realize it was Itachi because he had transformed into Anko and told him to run away, but the weasel could smell Itachi's scent and so he didn't harm him. Instead, he followed the boy to his teammates. It was there that he saw the seal on Sasuke's neck. Memories of his blackout washed over him, and he was filled with great anger. However, before he could do serious damage to Sasuke, Itachi came over and took him away from Sasuke. Itachi had sensed the weasel's anger and came to take it away before it could do any harm. Tempting it with the promise of chicken fries from Burger King if it left Sasuke alone, Itachi managed to keep the weasel's temper at bay.

_This time you were lucky_, thought the weasel._ But don't think this is over. Oh no. This is just beginning…_

Poor Sasuke. What shall happen next?

Review and find out!


	7. preliminary match

We've been through this. I own nothing.

After his ordeal in the forest of death, Sasuke was thoroughly afraid of the person who had been so strong. And yet he knew that though Orichimaru was strong, his older brother was stronger. The thought caused him to tremble with fear. He needed to become stronger than his brother fast. He was now more determined than ever to become as strong as he could as soon as possible. The next thing that he had to do was the preliminary battle round. They had to have one because of all of the people that had passed the second exam. Personally, Sasuke felt it was all his brother's fault. If he hadn't mangekyo'd everyone and made them faint, they wouldn't have had so many people pass the first round. And if so many people didn't pass the first round, they wouldn't have had the chance to compete at the second round. That way, many people would have been knocked off and he would have less to compete with. This was all riffraff. Except maybe that hyuuga kid. He looked like a serious opponent. Him and the redhead both. Everyone else looked like they didn't belong there. All of the girls, for example. They were all weak. Maybe the hyuuga girl was stronger than most because of her bloodline, but she looked like a peaceful person, not a warrior. She was probably an easy opponent. That sand girl looked slightly tough, but he was sure she wouldn't be too much of an opponent. The guys, with the exception of the hyuuga and the redhead, were also most likely easy to take on. That lee guy had beaten him once, but now that he knew his style and had his sharingan, Sasuke was sure he could take him on with ease. Naruto was easy to beat, and Kiba, who was a lot like Naruto, would be a piece of cake too. Chouji could be made to forfeit and Sikamaru would probably just give up, declaring moving too troublesome. The sound ninja didn't look like anything special, and that puppet master was a horrible joke. Maybe Shino, the quiet guy, would pose a slight threat if paired up against, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. After all, they were all nothing compared to him.

After everything was over, Sasuke really rethought his opinion of them. Yes, Ino and Sakura were not very good, but they were still relatively strong. Chouji had done ok, and so had Naruto. Of course, Neji and Gaara won their matches. The sound ninja were all pathetic. However, one had come very close to dangerously hurting him. Luckily, he was ok. He still couldn't forget though. The way that the two hyuuga had fought each other. Their fighting style was amazing. So was the way they moved, with grace and poise, as if dancing instead of fighting. The hyuuga girl was very gentle, but he had seen in her a potential to be as deadly as his aniki. The hyuuga boy too, was extremely gifted. The Temari girl had made him rethink his "not an opponent" thoughts of her. She had been extremely good, and had made him want to fight her really badly. He was also impressed by the weapon mistress's skill. He had thought her not worth his time, but after looking at the extremity of her accuracy, which rivaled his aniki's, he decided that he really wanted her to train him. He had wanted his aniki to train him in the art of accuracy, but with his aniki gone, he would have to ask her instead. His own favorite memory was when Neji was about to kill Hinata, and would have, if a trash truck hadn't crashed into the side of the building and banged into him, making him fly away. Of course, he had been very startled, but luckily, the hyuuga both had excellent reflexes and jumped out of its path immediately. The boy was then restrained so he couldn't try to kill her again, while she was taken to the emergency room immediately. Everything else was a blur that he really couldn't remember too much about. But he did know that he was surrounded by very powerful ninja and the more of them he could defeat, the closer he would be to his ideal of becoming stronger than Itachi.

The weasel watched Sasuke sleep from the safety of Itachi's pocket. It was very mad at itself and Sasuke. It had planned on hitting Sasuke with the trash truck, but it had miscalculated and come flying in during the hyuuga match instead. Yes, it had averted a calamity, but it could care less about that. All it could care about was the fact that it had missed its revenge, and that Itachi had not taken him to Burger King as punishment.

_I will make him pay…_


	8. before we start fighting

Seriously, people. How many times must I reiterate that I own nothing? You are all going to make me very sad. I think I'm going to go and join Sasuke in the emo corner.

_5 seconds later…_

Sasuke kicked me out of his emo corner, so now I have to find a new one. This is all your fault. But I digress. On to the story.

The weasel was pissed. The weasel was VERY pissed. It was so mad that pissed was an understatement. In fact, if there were a contest, it would probably win the award for understatement of the year. That was how much of an understatement it was. But what could have possibly happened to make the weasel so mad? Let us take a little recap to what happened last time and in-between then and now…

_The weasel watched Sasuke sleep from the safety of Itachi's pocket. It was very mad at itself and Sasuke. It had planned to hit Sasuke with the trash truck, but it had miscalculated and came flying in during the hyuuga match instead. Yes, it had averted a calamity, but it could care less about that. All it could care about was the fact that it had missed its revenge, and that Itachi had not taken him to Burger King as punishment. _

_I will make him pay…_

One would think that missing Burger King was enough of a punishment for the poor weasel, who was doing nothing more than aiding divine justice by trying to obtain retribution from Sasuke. But fate seemed to be determined not to be on his side. Why, the other day he had gone with Itachi to Best buy. Itachi loves electronics, even though he abuses them mercilessly. The weasel had gone along, as it needed a new door alarm for his room. Deidara had blown up the last 879, and the 2041 that were remaining had been either dismantled by Tobi or eaten up by Zetzu. Though Itachi was scary, he was the most normal and sensible of the Akatsuki members, and so the weasel had elected to spend its time with him.(Tobi, despite what he says, is NOT a good boy in any way. Where he got the extremely weird leather suits from, the weasel does not know and hopes never to find out. And it is not fond of Zetzu's constant weasel menu planning.) What he had not planned, however, was: to see Sasuke at Best buy, go over board and try to kill him with a pair of earphones, get kicked out of Best buy without being able to buy any door alarms, have Itachi run it over repeatedly with a lawnmower, have Itachi go berserk in Best buy with the lawnmower and blow up best buy, have Itachi then forsake it so that he wouldn't be blamed and/or sued for destroying Best buy, and the come home to find Zetzu, Deidara and Tobi waiting outside for it to come back home. It was definitely not very happy about any of that…

Wandering around the forests surrounding the Uchiha mansion, it found itself eavesdropping on Sasuke's training. It learnt that Sasuke was going to fight Gaara. That was the redhead that he had heard had a toothpaste fetish.

Things were going to get _very_ interesting…


	9. shukaku unleashed

**We are continuing with the story. Also, only one person has suggested a keyword. Is my story really **_**that**_** bad? If so, please just tell me so and I will stop writing it. Please people, suggest keywords. Thank you. **

**I own this story. And my fictional character. Nothing else.**

Gaara felt a chill run up his spine. He was angry and quite feeling like killing something. Today was not a good day. The Uchiha that he was supposed to fight up and left for somewhere, people were approaching him and asking him to give up against the stupid Uchiha and he had lost his toothpaste. Yes, you heard right. Someone had the utter stupidity to take away Gaara's prized possession, his toothpaste. No one, on pain of death, was supposed to take his toothpaste. But someone had done so and now he couldn't find it. He usually kept it in his bathroom, but today after lunch he went back to check on it. He had seen a weasel running away with what looked like toothpaste, which prompted him to go and check on his own, only to find it not there.

Gaara had already killed two people and now his bloodlust was insatiable. It would stay that way until he found his toothpaste. Going down to face off against the extremely late Uchiha, he decided that he was going to enjoy slowly killing him and letting each and every little grain of sand feast on every last drop of his blood. After all, even though he was so late, he still had a bloodline trait, which meant his blood was a higher quality than that riff-raff that tried to bribe him to lose. Their blood had tasted foul, like rotting flesh. He felt that the Uchiha's blood would taste sweet, with a slightly metallic taste to it. The green suit fellow, Lee, his blood had tasted nice. Like cold metal with a slight hint of lemon. Gaara could feel his blood pulsing excitedly on remembering the taste of Lee's blood.

Sasuke had felt eyes boring into the back of his skull for a very long time now. All day, in fact. But each time he turned his head to look around; he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. It was starting to creep him out. He had had his share of stalker fans since he was so popular, but it had never been to this extent. His fan club regulated his stalkers so that they couldn't do something like this. This person was definitely a ninja. And since the weapon mistress, Sakura, and her blond friend were cheering him in the stands and the wind user was upstairs, it wasn't any of them. The only other female ninja he could think of was the hyuuga heiress, but she didn't look like she was in love with him. In fact, he wasn't sure that she had noticed him at all. He didn't mind though. He was quite happy that there was one girl sane enough not to go berserk over him. Though Sakura had stopped fawning over him as much as she used too, and was becoming someone he didn't mind having around him. Though he would have preferred that he be on the same team as the hyuuga heiress. She, though she didn't know or look it, was incredibly strong.

Behind Sasuke, the weasel laughed at him. Did he think that he would be able to detect HIM? After all, he had trained under Itachi's mangekyou sharingan until Itachi was barely able to detect him even with his sharingan. Hiding from Sasuke was child's play. _This time I will get the perfect revenge on him…_thought the irate weasel. This was his fourth or fifth attempt to make sure that Sasuke was punished. But each time, it seemed to backfire. This time though, the weasel had thought things through and had a back up plan.

About halfway into the match, as Gaara was being thoroughly owned by Sasuke, the weasel decided that it was time to put its plan into action. Jumping of the tree it had been in, it scampered to Sasuke. Both Nin stopped fighting to stare at the weasel as it waltzed into the center of the arena between them. It then proceeded to remove an object from its fur. An object that Gaara seemed to recognize. An object that made Gaara mad to see in anyone else's hands besides his. Yes, you guessed right. It was his toothpaste. The weasel then took the toothpaste and dumped it into Sasuke's hair. It then bit Sasuke on the leg and ran away.

Gaara was livid on seeing HIS toothpaste in the stupid weasel's hands. But what enraged him more was that the weasel had poured all his special toothpaste over Sasuke's hair. But the smell of Sasuke's blood was like a balm to his wound, and as Shukaku stirred within him, he wanted nothing more than to kill Sasuke and drink his blood mixed with HIS toothpaste. His thirst for blood was now out of control and was hurting his entire body. Luckily, for him, Ooricimaru chose that time to start his attack on Konoha, giving Gaara time to flee with Sasuke in hot pursuit.

Sasuke found his path to Gaara blocked by the sand siblings. The puppeteer was taken care of by Shino, who had followed him when he ran of to pursuit Gaara. The wind user was harder to defeat. Luck was on his side however. He managed to finish her off, but just barely. By this time, he was sore stiff. But his desire to become stronger than his aniki was stronger than the throbbing pains of his body, and so steeling himself, he fled after Gaara once more.

Catching up to Gaara was no easy feat. The boy was a horrid opponent, one that proved incredibly hard to fight with at the chunnin final matches. With Shukaku now out, he was proving unstoppable. He was about to be completely flattened, when Sakura arrived. Sakura came in just as Shukaku was about to hit him with a sand blast and stick him to a tree. Sakura's impact on him threw him out of the blast's path, but Sakura found herself pinned to a tree and for some, unexplainable reason, she was knocked out with a huge crack in her skull that had blood dripping out. That was the last thing he remembered before he blacked out.

Behind him, the weasel cursed. Once again, it was foiled, but this time was intentional. Sakura had seen him throw the printer at Sasuke. He had originally stolen it from best buy as a gift for Itachi, but after Itachi ran him over with a lawnmower, he decided that he would use it to get rid of Sasuke. That way he would kill two birds with one stone. Sakura had then rammed herself into Sasuke, with the result that, instead of hitting Sasuke, the printer hit Sakura on the head and she was then taken over by the blast sent by Shukaku. However, she had already been hurt, so the weasel was satisfied. Realizing that if he stayed any longer, he would be in danger of being caught in the fight between Shukaku and the blond kid, he left to brew another plan in the safety of the Akatsuki lair. Deidara and Tobi were on a mission and Zetzu had left to visit his mother for a bit, so it was relatively safe to go back home. Of course, Itachi would turn him into mincemeat for 72 hours if he found out that he had hurt Sasuke, but what Itachi didn't know wouldn't hurt the weasel. So he left.

Sasuke woke up 5 minutes later to see Naruto battling Gaara. The great amount of power used by both, Naruto's summoning of such a huge frog, and the fact that Naruto had grown immensely in power in these last few months and was catching up to him fast chilled him to the bone. Where had the bonehead Naruto gone that couldn't even do a basic cloning jutsu? This Naruto could do the high-level rasengan, which made Sasuke both jealous and afraid. What if Naruto became stronger than he did? What would happen to him then? He had not come this far just to lose to Naruto. He decided immediately, that by whatever means possible, he would make sure to become stronger than Itachi. He also decided that after he had done that, he would become stronger than Naruto. Thinking these thoughts, he fainted once more, certain that Naruto would be able to defeat Gaara.

In this slumber, he didn't notice Ooricimaru standing near him, admiring both the fight between Naruto and Gaara and Sasuke's lithe body.

_I must have this perfect vessel…_

**Please don't forget to review. Moreover, if you like this, check out my other stories.**


	10. if only we could turn back time

**And we're back for more brotherly bonding between Sasuke and Itachi while the weasel watches sadly from the sidelines. Poor weasel. Is there something wrong with my story? Or is it that people are to lazy to actually review? There is a wide margin between the number of hits my stories have and the review they receive. And I mean really, REALLY wide. As in, about a hundred or so hits to about 8 reviews… even if you review just to say that it stinks and I am a horrid writer that must be banned of the face of the earth, please review. Thank you. And thanks to goeskaboom for putting me in her story **_**Exchange Program 2: Rise of Student B.**_** For all of you people who are unfamiliar with that story, go and read it. She is an infinitely better writer. Now then, enough of my drabbling and onto the story.**

Sasuke woke up to find himself unable to move any of his limbs. This discovery prompted the normally groggy on waking up sleepyhead to become instantly alert, only to find himself unable to move his head either. Sasuke, being Sasuke, instantly had a little panic attack while appearing to be thoroughly calm.

"Good morning Sasuke-san, or should I say, good evening. It is four o'clock, two days after your defection from Konoha and you are still extremely drugged thanks to the pills that Oorichimaru-sama made to help activate your curse seal to stage two. Because you were unconscious and under the effects of the pills, you were strapped down to this table completely so that you couldn't damage anything, or anyone. The pills should have run completely out of your system by around and hour or two, and until then you have to remain strapped to the table. Oorichimaru-sama's orders.

Sasuke's brain took all of that in and identified the speaker as Kabuto. Sure enough, five minutes later Kabuto's perpetually smiling-in-a-freaky-way face entered his line of vision (and yes, he was smiling).

"How are you feeling, Sasuke-san? Of course, you cant talk because I gave you some medicines to make sure you cant scream while we torture you. You see, you've been a bad boy, Sasuke-san. You were supposed to be here on time so that Oorichimaru-sama could take over your body, but you had to go and be late and now Oorichimaru-sama had to take someone else's body instead. Oh well, you'll get your turn in 3 years…"

Kabuto proceeded to take an injection, stick it into his neck, and take out some of his blood. "For future reference, you see, and also to make sure that there were no unwanted side-effects to the pills. Not to mention, we want you to be in perfect health for Oorichimaru-sama. And while we're at it, I should warn you that he is very…perverted. He will try to hit on you many times, and he might force you to do things that you might not want to. I personally sleep with a kunai under my pillow so that he doesn't try anything funny on me again. When I first came here, he tied me to this table as you are now, but he did…things to me that I don't wish to mention. But he is a very good teacher, and an extremely strong ninja. His favorite method of fun is bondage, so I'd be very careful if I were you."

Sasuke suddenly wondered if this was such a smart move on his part…How did he get into this mess? Oh yeah…

_Flashback:_

_After Naruto had fought and won against Gaara of the sand, and Oorichimaru's attack was defeated at the cost of the Third's life, he had run away from the hospital to do a bit of thinking. There he'd seen the weasel that had been his proctor for the first round of the Chunin exams. The weasel had come up to him and asked him if he was searching for power and told him that the secret to power was to defect from Konoha and join a strong missing-nin to train under them. The weasel's idea had sounded like a good one. Knowing that Akatsuki wouldn't want someone as pathetic as him yet, he decided to go for the next best choice, Oorichimaru. _

_End flashback._

That's right. This was all that damned weasel's fault…

In the Akatsuki lair:

Kisame: Hey Itachi, did you hear?

Itachi: hnn?

Kisame: Sasuke defected from Konoha and joined Oorichimaru!

Deidara (coming in from other room): Hey, isn't that your little brother? HEY EVERYONE! ITACHI'S YOUNGER BROTHER DEFECTED FROM KONOHA AND JOINED OORICHIMARU!

Weasel (aside to self): finally! It worked!

Itachi: WHAT!

(Deidara goes into his room and comes back five minutes later. Meanwhile, Kisame and Zetzu give Itachi a blanket to tear to get rid of some of his anger. Weasel slinks away quietly)

Itachi: When I get my hands on the wise guy that suggested he do something like that, they are going to be torn limb from limb. But before that, I'm going to go and kill Kakashi (rips blanket to shreds).

Deidara: (entering from his room) Has anyone seen my blankie? (sees Itachi) NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (snatches blankie from Itachi or what's left of it, anyways) MY BLANKIE! NOOOOO.

(goes to sob in emo corner.) DEI-DEI WANTS HIS BLANKIE…

Itachi comes over and pats his shoulder. And then promises him a new blankie. So dei-dei doesn't blow up the rook like he planned to. Which is too bad; because the weasel had been running on the roof at the time the commotion was going on; and would have been blasted into smithereens so that he couldn't wreak any more havoc on poor Sasuke's life.

But he lived to see another day and more Sasuke pain…


	11. before this all started

All right then. I haven't been on for a while, and I apologize for the delay. Though my last page had exactly eight hits, which means only eight people are reading this…

However, since there are eight people reading it, we shall finish what we started. In addition, even though eight people read the last chapter, I didn't get any reviews. Just a little line, even if you say nothing more than "… " will help greatly. I also apologize for any spelling errors with names. Thank you for reading. I own nothing, not even the hair tie I'm wearing, so please don't steal this plot. If you want to use any characters that are mine, please ask me before you use them.

"Kisame, you're sitting on my foot. Get off."

"Well it's not my fault you know. We shouldn't even be here in the first place. If Itachi sees us, we're history…"

"I shall blow you up if you don't get of my foot _now_."

"If you do that Itachi will hear us."

"Grrrrrrrrrrrr"

What, you might ask, are Deidara and Kisame up to? Well the answer is quite simple. After Deidara was consoled by Kisame that he would get a new blankie as soon as Itachi was all right, Itachi had locked himself up in his room and refused to come out. Then he had sent a letter by messenger pigeon to someone and had proceeded to make quite a lot of noise in his room. Now, if it were any other Akatsuki member throwing a temper tantrum, no one would have batted an eyelid. Itachi, however, was a special case. He never allowed anything to get under his skin, and he was always very quiet, even when mad, so to hear him this vocal was unnerving for everyone. Not to mention that his screaming and ranting was actually louder than any of their temper tantrums normally got.

During his ranting, he had made many references to "Uchiha clan", "Sasuke", "Oorichimaru", and "Sharingan". He also almost told them why he killed his clan and ran away, but just before he could say anything, he realized what he was saying and calmed himself immediately. Since that dinner, he had been locked up in his room, until today. Today, Itachi was going out to meet someone. Now, Kisame was worried for his partner's sanity, and Deidara was just curious about the sharingan user in general, so the two of them had decided to shadow Itachi. Deidara to see what Itachi was doing and Kisame to make sure Itachi didn't hurt himself.

Itachi had run from the base the minute he had left it and gone straight to Konoha. He was furious, and his anger fueled his speed so that it was very hard for the two of them to follow him with ease. Deidara had then made a cloud of clay, which the two were sitting on while it chased after Itachi. Kisame, who had greater amounts of chakra at his disposal, was creating a barrier around the cloud to make it invisible to Itachi's sharingan. However, since there wasn't a whole lot of space on the cloud, he ended up sitting on Deidara's foot. This, Kisame resolved mentally, was all Deidara's fault. Deidara had seen Itachi come out of his room and had at once gone to the kitchen to announce to all present that Itachi was out of his room. Of course, one of those present was Kisame, who went to see what was wrong with Itachi at once. However, when he confronted Itachi, he was rudely pushed aside as Itachi walked out the front door.

Itachi stopped at a clearing a few miles away from Konoha. Deidara and Kisame stopped and hid behind a bush, only to find they were standing on Zetzu.

"_GET OFF MY FACE __**NOW**_"

"Sorry. What are you doing here??"

"Duh," said Kakuzu, coming up behind them, "we're here to see who it is that's going to receive the thrashing that Itachi's going to give out."

Satisfied with this response, all the Akatsuki members (minus Tobi) settled in to watch Itachi own whoever it was that was foolish enough to risk his wrath.

Meanwhile…

Kakashi sighed. He had been expecting this. He had been expecting this ever since Sasuke decided to go to Oorichimaru. He had actually been expecting this much before, actually.

Kakashi had never hated himself more. Ever since he was little, he had been a screw-up (not that anyone knew of it, of course). His first mistake ever, was when he was little. He had been born son of a person hated by the village, and as such, he was shunned by everyone. His second mistake was when his teammates went on their first C rank mission, soon to be their last. Obito fell behind, and Kakashi made the decision to leave him there. He only went back because of Rin's pleading and her abject hero-worship of him (he would never admit it, but Shizune and Sakura reminded him of her, and it really hurt to look at them). He had liked her as a friend, and had suspected that Obito liked her the way she liked him, and so went back only to find Obito dying. Obito had given Kakashi his left eye to make up for Kakashi's left eye, which he lost going back for Obito. His third mistake was leaving Rin in the hospital and going home when visiting hours were over and the nurse told him to leave. He should have known better. He left her in a coma: she awoke after he left, to say a goodbye he never heard. Ever since, he had developed a chronic habit of being late.

His fourth mistake, (and from where he started to expect this) was taking Itachi Uchiha under his wing in ANBU, and then making a right mess of things. Itachi was a star pupil, _his _star pupil, and they had shared a healthy rivalry from the start. He had known (like every other ninja) that the Uchiha clan was having financial issues because of their great numbers, but he figured that they would be able to handle it.

Even when Itachi came to him and informed him of the disastrous double-dealings of his clan, he refused to help him because he thought that Itachi was lying to him. After all, Itachi was having trouble with authority at that time, and he had figured that it was a cry for attention. Even when Itachi gave him tangible proof, he didn't help him.

His fifth mistake was letting Itachi go that night. He would never forget that night. He had not seen his charge for _days_, and he was worried. He neared the Uchiha clan complex. He knew it was late, but he also knew that Itachi would be up. Itachi was an insomniac, a condition shared by his mother. However, he saw Itachi at the river, with another Uchiha member. On closer observance, he realized that the other person was Shisui, a close friend of Itachi's. He came in for a closer look, to find that he was dead and Itachi was standing in front of him, drenched in his blood. Itachi noticed him right away. Kakashi would never admit it to anyone, but he was proud of Itachi, and was proud that he had been noticed right away. Itachi once again told him of his clan's plans, but Kakashi refused to believe Itachi. Finally, Itachi let Kakashi go, but not before asking him to take care of Sasuke in his absence. Kakashi agreed, no questions asked. He didn't need too. The night after that, Itachi stopped by his flat on the way out of Konoha, and gave him a scroll explaining everything. Kakashi paid a visit to the Uchiha temple after that, and never told a soul of what he had found.

His sixth mistake was indulging Sasuke and aiding him on his quest to destroy his brother. Every time that Sasuke proclaimed his hate for his brother, it dug into Kakashi like a knife, and he couldn't help but wonder each time how life would have been if he had told everyone the truth.

His seventh mistake was not so much a mistake, as it was regret. He had been at the monument bearing the names of all his comrades that were killed in action, and had been thinking of Obito and Rin. He had just been visited by Jiraya after getting out of the hospital. After the fight with Gaara, Sasuke just hadn't been the same. Something had changed in him after he watched Naruto fight Gaara, and Kakashi felt it was decidedly not for the better. When he received the summons to the Hokage's office, he dallied, as he was wont to do. Consequently, he was too late in finding Sasuke and bringing him home.

He had been unable to face himself ever since. He had failed. He had failed Naruto, who was counting on his help to get Sasuke back. He had failed Sakura, who had waited heartbroken for Sasuke to come back (in the light as she cried, she looked more like Rin than ever and he couldn't help but feel even more worse than usual). He had failed Sasuke, for in failing to be there in time he had failed to be the teacher that he was. He had failed himself, because he had promised himself that nothing would happen to his students like had happened to his team, and look how that turned out.

Worst of all, he had failed Itachi, who had counted on him from the very start. And failing Itachi hurt him worst of all, because in failing Itachi, he was failing Sasuke and Azrielle too.

Therefore, he went to meet Itachi, who would be mad at him, and rightfully so. So he walked to the clearing at which Itachi had asked Kakashi to meet him. The clearing had a lot of their history in its midst. It was there that they had made their first kill together as a team, there that they stopped for picnics, there that Itachi had told him the horrid truth about his clan. It was there that Itachi had buried Azrielle, there Kakashi buried the scroll containing the reason Itachi left. He had had no need of it anymore. It was imprinted firmly in him mind, in his very being. He had memorized that scroll until it was like a part of him, and each time he remembered it, he remembered how he had failed, and how different life could have been.

Kakashi stepped into the clearing, and found Itachi there. There were a few other people too, but if Itachi didn't seem to mind them there then he had no objections.

"Hello, Itachi."

"Hello. You're early, for a change."

"You're mad at me, aren't you?"

"You could say that. This place has a lot of history between us, doesn't it, _Kakashi-sensei_? Well, the last history this place is going to have between us is your dying here at my hand!"

Ha-ha, cliffy!

What happens next!!!

Azrielle will be explained next chapter, along with a few Uchiha secrets.

Until then, please review.


	12. secrets down deep

Hey

Hey. Sorry that I haven't updated in so long. Hope that you enjoy this chapter, and please leave a comment after reading. Thanks!

"**Hello, Itachi."**

"**Hello. You're early, for a change."**

"**You're mad at me, aren't you?"**

"**You could say that. This place has a lot of history between us, doesn't it, **_**Kakashi-sensei**_**? Well, the last history this place is going to have between us is your dying here at my hand!"**

Itachi lunged forward, mangekyou sharingan activated and ready to kill his once-beloved sensei. His rage was consuming him, and within minutes he had Kakashi firmly trapped in tsukuyomi's grasp.

Kakashi was panicking. Not that he would ever tell it to anyone, but he was exceedingly afraid of what Itachi might do to him. Sure enough, within seconds, he was trapped inside a hell of memories, all of them dear to him, each a memory of his failure that cut deep to the core…

_A young boy, barely twelve years old, looks up at him with a smile on his face…_

_A life snuffed out in an instant, with no looking back…_

_The rooftops of the Uchiha mansion, bathed in imaginary fire as the sun sets behind its walls…_

_Blood on Itachi's hands as he spies Kakashi from the corner of his eyes…_

"_This scroll explains everything. When I'm gone, I want you to have it…"_

"_Take care of her."_

"_Keep him alive, for my sake."_

_A ten-year-old Sasuke in the Uchiha mansion, burning a scroll bathed in his parents' blood…_

_Secret passages through which he came to see Itachi every week…_

_A happy face, a gentle smile, a forgiving glance…_

"_I won't leave you, I promise."_

"_Good…b..."_

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" Kakashi heard a scream that seemed to echo throughout his entire soul, so it took a moment to realize that the sound was not coming from his throat. Further examining told him it was coming from a distraught Itachi, who was on his knees crying while his fists pounded the earth.

* * *

"Ne, Ne, Sakura-chan, where is Kakashi-sensei?" asked Naruto.

"I don't know Naruto. Probably late as always. Now stop…"

"_NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"_

"What was that?" wondered Sakura.

"That sounded like Itachi! It's coming from that direction! And where Itachi is, Sasuke is bound not to be far behind! Let's go investigate." shouted Naruto enthusiastically.

* * *

"Hmm, I wonder what that noise was, don't you Kabuto?" asked Oorichimaru of his sinister friend. "Maybe you should take Sasuke and go check it out. You might find something interesting…"

"Hai, Oorichimaru-sama."

* * *

"HOW COULD YOU! YOU PROMISED ME!! YOU PROMISED ME!!" Itachi promptly had a fit of hiccups. All his teammates were snickering behind their hiding spot in the trees. Of course they were also afraid for their lives if Itachi should find them there.

"I'm sorry. I tried my hardest. If it makes you feel better, she is not completely dead yet. And I've checked up on her at least once a month."

"She's…alive?" Itachi asked, a glimmer of hope shining in his eyes.

"Yes. Do you want me to take you to her?"

Itachi nodded, and silently Kakashi began to walk toward the area that the Akatsuki members were hiding.

"Oh crap-un" cried Deidara. "What are we going to do-un, what are we going to DO-UN ??"

"Relax, or we'll be found out," said Kakuzu, "just teleport to the other side of the forest." This strategy was promptly put into effect by the Akatsuki members, all except Zetzu, because Zetsu was daring and wanted to see things close up. And had the advantage of being able to blend in with the forest, being half plant himself.

* * *

As Naruto and Sakura sped to the scene of the noise, they saw a bunch of Akatsuki members hiding in the bushes. They weren't hiding very well, what with all the noise about stepping on people's toes and faces. One would think that being S rank missing nin the Akatsuki would have more brains, but evidentially not.

* * *

Sasuke didn't understand why he had agreed to do this. He could be training, or plotting ways to kill Itachi, or training, but _noo_ he had to go along with Kabuto to investigate some stupid noise that was coming from Konoha's vast forest. Go figure.

As Sasuke and Kabuto got to the clearing, they immediately saw Naruto and Sakura, and the rest of Akatsukiwho still hadn't noticed them as they were too busy squabbling. As they got into fighting stances, they overheard an interesting conversation.

"_She's…alive?"_

"That's Itachi!" shouted Sasuke. "I must avenge…"

"Shut up will you." whispered an annoyed Deidara (Kisame refused to move his giant sword, which was placed a little _too_ close to his pants for comfort), "you're talking too loud."

It was then that both parties realized that Kakashi and Itachi were talking together. Attention riveted by the spectacle before them, everyone called a truce until they understood what was going on. Akatsuki briefed the rest on the situation at their base and the events that had happened before, and everyone turned to the odd pair with curious and in Sasuke's case, murderous eyes.

Kakashi walked to the tree, the one he had gone to a thousand times before. He gently caressed the bark for a moment, and then gently pressed his hand onto a withered knot of leaves in the second branch. With a series of groans, the tree trunk opened to reveal that it was hollow, except for a staircase spiraling downward.

"Follow me."said Kakashi, as he placed one hand on the side of the trunk and started going downward.

All the people hiding behind the trees stared in shock as the tree gave way to a secrect passage. They watched spellbound as Kakashi and Itachi descended the staircase. After a few seconds, Zetzu crawled through the grass to check if they were still around.

"Come on guys. The coast is clear. Are we following them or not?"queried Zetzu. With much trepidation for fear of being caught by Itachi and excitement that they might finally understand the past of the Uchiha the unlikely group made its way downward into the trunk.

No one noticed the weasel that followed them after they went down, nor the fact that the door slammed shut once the weasel was inside, making them prisoners of whatever fate was to come…

Reviews are love. They keep me going. Please click the shiny button, even if only to post a random letter, or emoticon…


End file.
